Buckwheat Porridge

I've been running for about 20 years now and until recently (the last year or two), I've really only run as far as a 10k.  I love running. Its a great sport.  I don't mean I like it because I can be "free" when I run. Thats all just mumbo-jumbo to me.  I run because I enjoy the challenge of it: going farther, increasing my speed, making it up the hill. I enjoy observing the changes to my abilities the longer I practice.

Runners (and all athletes for that matter) need to carefully monitor their diets to ensure they are getting appropriate amounts of carbs and protein to fuel and recover from their run.

Ask any random person on the street and they will tell you to get your protein from meat.  But meat isn't the only source out there.  It bothers me that most people think meat is the only source of protein out there.  I want to change that.  Yes dairy has some protein as well, but plants are so underrated as protein sources.  Yes, thats right.  Plain old, sustainable, easy to digest and low calorie plants. And many are complete proteins, which means they have all the essential amino acids required for your body to convert the protein into something it can use.

I try to make breakfast my biggest meal of the day, which I know goes against what we are all taught throughout our lives, when dinner is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day. But after fasting for 8-9 hours (yes I sleep that much per night), my body needs food.  This, admittedly is a struggle for me and I'm not a morning person by nature, so I stumble around for a good 30 minutes after waking up and I'm not ready to eat right away.  But I run in the morning too, so I want to make sure my body has calories to burn on my run.  Training myself to eat early in the morning has been difficult.  Night-owls and morning people are hard wired differently and trying to alter a routine to something my body does not want takes a lot of practice and time.

So I usually eat foods for breakfast that are light on my stomach. But a bowl of cheerios isn't going to cut it when I head out for a 14 mile run.  Its just not enough to sustain me.

My all time favorite breakfast fuel for runs is the Overnight Oats.  But I do shake things up every now and again with some Buckwheat Porridge.  The recipe below is a product of some trial and error. I wanted a simple recipe that I could whip up fast, dirtying as little equipment as possible and will keep several days in the fridge.  I found several recipes online and tried them and experimented until I came up with this one.

Buckwheat is one of the complete plant proteins I mentioned earlier.  Make sure you use buckwheat groats for this recipe and start it the night before (find it at Whole Foods or the food co-op in the bulk section).  Kasha is a type of buckwheat, but it has been toasted and is not the same product as groats.

Buckwheat Porridge

1/2 C Buckwheat Groats, soaked overnight in water
1/4 C Rice Milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 C currants, raisins or other dried fruits
walnuts, almonds, pecans for garnish

Soak groats overnight in 1 C water.  The morning of your run, rinse the groats thoroughly in cold water. They will be slimy initially - this is normal. Just rinse them until they are not slimy anymore - just about a minute.

Combine groats, milk and cinnamon in a food processor and process until combined - a minute  or so. It won't be perfectly smooth, but should be the consistency of oatmeal.  Stir in dried fruits and nuts or garnish with muesli.  Eat it cold or warm.

Just a note - if you are not vegan, and would like to try this you can certainly use dairy milk or whatever milk you prefer.  I have not tried it with dairy milk, but I see no reason it wouldn't work.